Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

130 RADIO BROADCAST JULY, 1928 a better indication of the motor's functioning than any direct aural observation. The highways of the air will become routes of commerce and travel with the establishment of low-power beacons, close together on the line of flight, directional beacons, and an aircraft communication network. Adequate radio sign posts of the air will do more to help the development of commercial aviation than foolhardy transatlantic publicity stunts, performed in the name of science, often by pilots who prefer to fly without scientific equipment. No Innovations or Revolutions for IQ28 THE June trade show in Chicago will be under way by the time these lines appear in print. Last year, the exhibit inaugurated what the public accepted as a radically new type of radio set with the effect of making the previous year's offerings quite obsolete. The hurrahs with which the alternating-current receiver was greeted upset the stability of the industry. This year's improvements are much less radical and represent much more normal and sounder progress. Appearance and simplicity of control are becoming the outstanding factors bv which the public selects its radio receivers. The most interesting developments along these lines are the new receivers shown by the Zenith Company. Instead of turning a dial to select his station, the listener now presses a button. As a practical improvement, the advantage gained is not startling, but the public, ever ready to jump at novelties, will undoubtedly greet the new receiver with an amazing show of interest. There is a powerful undercurrent of talk aroused by the announcements regarding television and picture transmission. Having had so many experiences with premature announcements of progress, the industry is not greeting television talk with any great enthusiasm. It fears the public will develop the attitude of mind that it is worth while to defer purchasing a radio receiver so that they may have one in which a television receiver is incorporated. This development is not definitely in prospect. No one has yet made a true television device in commercially marketable form nor have we heard of any television transmitter which can be used in the broadcast band. Every one of the existing systems depends upon the building up of an entirely new short-wave broadcasting structure together with a new audience using shortwave receivers. Both the industry and the public will be greatly benefited if the television propagandists would give adequate demonstrations of the experimental apparatus they plan to market. Our British contemporaries have found it necessary to warn their public of the danger of misleading announcements regarding television. We would welcome with open arms the development of practical television, but would regret any stagnation of radio at this time on account of its prospective development. In the hope of contributing practical information on the situation, we quote the statements on a few technical authorities which bear on the situation. — F. B. Jewett, President, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Dr. Michael I. Pupin, engineering authority and inventor of the loading coil, Dr. J. H. Dellinger, Director of the Radio Laboratory of the Bureau of Standards, Dr. Lee DeForest, inventor of the threeelement tube, C. Francis Jenkins, tele vision research engineer and inventor, David Sarnoff, Vice-President of the Radio Corporation of America, and Percy W. Harris, British technical writer. Some of these statements follow: F. B. Jewett (in the New York Times): At the public demonstration which we made on April 7, 1927, of the results then obtained, Mr. Gifford, President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, stated, among other things: "The elaborateness of the equipment required by the very nature of the undertaking precludes any present possibility of television being available in homes and offices generally." Nothing which has developed as a result of our work in the past year has tended to alter this opinion of Mr. Gifford. Dr. Michael I. Pupin: I do not know when television will be practical for the home. I do not know anything about the latest improvements which have been developed by those who are directly interested in the development of this art. But as far as I do know this art has a great many complications in its operation, and I do not see clearly how these complications can be eliminated so as to make television fool-proof in operation and thus make it practical for the home. Dr. J. H. Dellinger: There is no doubt that the development of television will go forward and that eventually television will be commercially used. It seems likely, however, that it will continue to be an expensive process, requiring complicated apparatus and careful synchronization and adjustment of high-frequency electric currents. Dr. Lee DeForest; Until some radically new discovery in physics is made which will simplify the present problems of television, we cannot expect to find this in the home in a practical, commercial form and at a price which even the wealthy can afford. There are so many factors to be considered besides the mere physical and electrical problems. . . . 1 am willing to go on record to the effect that practical, commercial, reasonably priced television equipment for the home will not be on the market within five years, and very likely not within twenty-five years. C. Francis Jenkins: Transmission by wire or radio of a baseball game from the ball field as the game progresses is unlikely to be attained short of three to five years more of research. David Sarnoff: At the present time an entirely new era of radio communication — radio television — is opening before us. We are not now manufacturing television apparatus for the home, because, frankly, we do not yet know how to make a simplified and lowpriced television receiver practicable for home use. Nevertheless. I firmly believe that within the next few years such equipment and service will be developed and made available to the home. Percy W. Harris, in Popular Wireless (London): In common with a large number of other experimenters, I have closely watched the progress of television both in this country and abroad, and I have not the slightest hesitation in stating that in my humble opinion we have not even measurably approached the time when the home constructor, as distinguished from the skilled experimenter, can try his hand at the game. The home constructor comes into his own when the fundamental problems have been solved and when the development of a particular art is a constructional one and a question of detail. The fundamental problems of genuine television have not been solved either in this country or abroad, nor can I see that they are likely to be along the lines so far pursued. Radio Broadcast has enthusiastically fostered and encouraged the development of equipment which will enable the amateur experimenter to familiarize himself with progress in the new art. We have been careful throughout, however, to point out that the new field is yet distinctly one of experiment, and that it is not yet a regular service to the listener. Still picture reception is a fascinating field for the experimenter and gratifying results are obtainable with home-built apparatus, but the day has not yet come when the general public may look forward to a television attachment for his set. Broadcast Regulation at a Standstill IT IS with distinct disappointment that we make reference to the broadcasting situation, which we hoped might be favorably influenced by the Davis Amendment to the Radio Act, made law by the President's !o®*> signature on March 28. The amendment might have been used by the Federal Radio Commission as a means of greatly reducing the number of broadcasting stations on the air. Everything pointed to that course when the Commission announced the details of a plan, submitted by a special committee of the Institute of Radio Engineers, as a result of their exhaustive study of the capacity of the broadcast band. The plan recommended that the number of stations on the air simultaneously be reduced to three hundred and forty. The National Association of Broadcasters, the Radio Manufacturers Association, and the Federated Trade Association raised a loud howl when the Commission's inclination to adopt this plan was indicated and, in deference to their protests, the Commission called a hearing in Washington at which these three associations, togetherwiththeN. E. M. A., presented their views. The committee representing these three bodies offered a series of charts involving an impressive amount of long division. One set of charts worked out the power allotment to each state, based on the ratio of its population to the popu Pr ogress in Television /T IV AS announced by the General Electric Company on May 11 that experimental television transmissions would be made through wgy on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons from 1 : ]o to 2:00 p. m., Eastern daylight saving time on the usual wgy wave-length, 379.5 meters (790 kc). The pictures consist of 24 scanning lines, repeated 20 times a second. This transmission ts a part of the experiments in charge of Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson which have been under way for the past several years. It is probable that some other transmissions, made by Nakken, Jenkins, Baud and others will be on the air within a reasonable length of time. In our next issue we expect to include an article analysing the present television systems — which are generally quite similar — telling frankly what results can be expected from each, and to include a general description of the apparatus necessary at the receiving end. As soon as there is assurance of sufficiently regular transmissions and that the apparatus for receiving television signals is available. Radio Broadcast will describe its operation and assembly. A number of well-known experimenters are working on this problem now, in cooperation with Radio Broadcast; as soon as results warrant, their work will be described in these pages. The leading article this month explains some of the difficulties of television and an editorial on this page points out some pertinent facts on the subject. The reader should not forget that any television system now delivers but crude pictures and that "perfection" is not now in sight. — The Editor.